Information for postgraduate students

Deposits

Students applying for entry to postgraduate taught and postgraduate research masters (MRes) courses in the College from the 2012-13 academic year onwards will usually be required to pay a deposit on acceptance of a conditional offer to study at the College. Deposit invoices will normally be sent within five working days of applicants accepting an offer.

Once the deposit and all other conditions have been met, applicants will progress to unconditional status. The tuition fees charging cycle for each year usually commences in May; once the charging cycle has commenced, self-funding students will receive a full fee invoice within five working days of completing their last condition.

Self-funding students

Students will receive an invoice normally within five working days of completing the final condition of their offer. Tuition fees are payable annually on the first day of the month closest to one month prior to the programme commencing, or within 30 days of invoicing, whichever is the latter.

For the purposes of fee payment dates, the session for postgraduate research programmes is deemed to commence on 1 October irrespective of individual start dates, except where that start date is between 1 September and 14 September when the session is deemed to commence on 1 September.

The session for all continuing postgraduate research students is deemed to commence on 1 October.

Students may make any number of payments towards the invoice total at any time after receiving their invoice. Any deposit payment received by the College will be deducted from the balance due.

Payments made by students requiring a Tier 4 (General) Student visa will be uploaded to the students’ Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS). Any payment details uploaded to the CAS will be reflected on Student e-Service; students are strongly advised to check that any payments made are shown before booking a visa appointment.

Payments cannot be uploaded to a CAS that shows a status of Used. Students whose CAS has been used and who need to show a payment made to the College are advised to contact their admissions team at their earliest convenience.

Payment of fees in instalments

Students whose fee liability exceeds £2,000 may apply to pay their fees in two instalments, although the option to pay fees in instalments is not available to students under the age of 18:

The first instalment shall be payable on the first day of the month closest to one month prior to the programme commencing, or within 30 days, whichever is the latter.

The second instalment is payable on the first day of the month closest to five months after the session for that programme commences (i.e. six months after the standard due date for the first instalment).

Students requiring a Tier 4 (General) Student visa may opt to pay their fees by instalments but these students will still need to show evidence of funds to cover living expenses and the full tuition fees for the first year of study; these funds must be shown in either the student's or their parents' bank account for a minimum of 28 days on a statement dated not more than 31 days prior to the visa application date.

No interest is payable on the amount of credit extended through payment of fees by instalments but credit is subject to a facility fee of 2% of the total fee payable (representative 10.4% APR) with this fee payable with the first instalment of 50%. The option to pay by instalments is not available to applicants or students under the age of 18. Applicants that are over the age of 18 will be able to apply to pay by instalments by emailing the Tuition Fees team.

Representative ExampleTuition fees of £26,000, deposit payment of £2,600, cash price £23,400, facility charge £468, total amount of credit £23,868 payable in two instalments of £12,168 by 1 October 2016 and £11,700 by 1 March 2017, total payable £23,868 representative 10.4% APR.

Students applying for UK Government Postgraduate Loans

Home and EU students that meet certain criteria may apply for a Postgraduate Loan (PGL) for up to £10,000 from the UK Government to support their studies at Master’s level, the loan is paid directly to the student via the Student Loans Company and may be used towards tuition fees or in support of maintenance costs. Please note, that as this loan is paid directly to the student, the College does not regard it as sponsorship and any students applying for a PGL should declare that they are self-funding even if they intend on using the PGL to pay some or all of their tuition fees. Students in receipt of a PGL and who opt to pay their fees in instalments, may request to pay in three, rather than two, instalments; further information is available from the Tuition Fees team. (This does not apply to Postgraduate loans via the Student awards agency for Scotland)

Sponsored students

All students are deemed to be self-funding until such time as a sponsorship award has been formally confirmed by your sponsoring organisation and accepted by the College. Imperial College London reserves the right to determine what constitutes acceptable sponsorship; payment of fees by an individual or group of individuals acting in a personal capacity will not be regarded as sponsorship.

If a sponsor is paying fees directly to a student for them to make payment to the College, the agreement is between the student and their sponsor, not the sponsor and the College, and so the student will be regarded as self-funding.

Students who have declared they are fully sponsored will not be able to enrol until proof of sponsorship has been accepted by the College; students who have applied for sponsorship but this has yet to be confirmed are therefore advised to state that they are self-funding until such time as their sponsorship award has been confirmed.

Students who are partially sponsored should state that they are self-funding when accepting their offer.

Satisfactory evidence of sponsorship is usually regarded as an original, dated and duly authorised letter from your sponsor on headed paper which includes the following:

Your name and College Identifier Number

The programme for which you have been offered a place

The amount of fees which will be paid by your sponsor

The address to which the invoice should be sent

Any Purchase Order Number required

Confirmation that the fees will be sent directly to Imperial College

This letter should be sent to: Registry Admissions, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ.

If you are sponsored by your College department, please send an email to the Admissions Team quoting your name, CID and programme, and they will confirm this directly with the department.

If you obtain sponsorship after registering or commencing your course, confirmation of your sponsorship as above should be sent to: Tuition Fees, Level 3 Sherfield Building, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ.

Payment terms for partially sponsored students, including the option for payment of fees by instalments, will be the same as for self-funding students.

Refunds

Postgraduate students interrupting or withdrawing from their course and postgraduate research students entering writing up during the academic session will be charged a pro-rata fee based on the relevant full year fee (or their contribution to the full year fee) and the number of weeks or any part thereof studied during an academic session of 52 weeks.

A refund will be made to the student of any balance of fees paid in excess of the reduced fee on request; for students interrupting their studies, the balance may be held on account for use against the balance of fees on resumption of studies.

Where a student's fee (or part of a student's fee) is being paid by a sponsor, the sponsor will be charged a fee pro-rata the period of attendance and the sponsor's share of the fee liability, with any balance refunded on the same basis as above.

Any deposit element will only be refundable where an applicant:

fails to meet the relevant conditions of their offer;

is refused a relevant visa; or

in extreme or exceptional mitigating circumstances.

As such, this portion of the fee will be excluded from the calculation of any refund due to a student withdrawing after the start of session. This will also be the case for self-funding students who were not required to pay the deposit on acceptance of their offer for a course that would ordinarily require a deposit.

Applications for refund under exceptional mitigating circumstances will be considered by a panel consisting of the Head of Accounting Operations, the Director of Student Support and the Academic Registrar or their appropriate nominees. This panel will operate under guidelines set down in the College's Tuition Fees Policy.

If a student demonstrates sponsorship after payment of the deposit, a relevant refund will be made without an application for refund needing to be considered by the panel.

Information for visiting students

If you are a visiting student applying for a course and have been advised that no fee will be payable, you will not be required to pay a deposit but should select the 'self-funding' option when you are accepting your offer in Student e-Service. This is for administrative purposes only and you will not be charged a fee.